skip1690

Hi Rossmoyne, This is quite encouraging news. My wife is a secondary English teacher and we hopefully plan on being out there July 2016. All the threads I've read about teaching recently are quite negative, but it's good to hear from someone from the profession with positive comments.

Fantastic news, I must admit, it's the thing that scares me the most about moving out there. To have that taken care of would be a great weight off.

Yes we went and I'm glad we did, got a couple of pens too!! we had a visa eligibility pack ready and waiting for us from Immigration2oz as we had filled out the online registration a few days ago and that saved us a bit of standing in line and it was a positive one, they reckon we'd have a great chance of getting a 189 visa. We spoke to the recruiters for Smart Teachers and that also seemed positive for Mrs Skip, all round a good child free day topped off with a carvery on the way home!!!!

Thanks for your replies. I have a browse through those threads Cerberus when I get a minute. Cheers

Hi, as it says in the title, has anyone used a migration company called Concept Australia? I spoke to a friend of mine on skype who lives in Greenwood who told me it's the firm he used on the recommendation of a friend of his and he has since recommended them to another mutual friend, so all seems good, but with something as big as this you can never do too much research. The more first hand accounts I hear, good or bad, the better. Thanks

You can still get tickets, I think you can even get them on the the door. Whereabouts in S. Yorks are you? Steely, you'll have to let us know how you get on today.

Not tomorrow, but Sunday. I've heard mixed reports about the ones in the past, but to be honest, we're just going to go and enjoy it, if nothing else it'll be a day out with a nice lunch and no kids.. even though I've been doing my research here online, I'm pretty sure that there is so much more to learn and for the sake of a tenner a ticket and a tank of fuel, I'll give it a go.

thanks for the replies everyone, it really does help knowing that you've all done it or are doing it and are willing to support people who are just starting out with the journey.

Hi Portlaunay, The reasons for moving to Perth as oppose to any other Australian city is mainly based on existing friendships. The reasons for moving to Aus.......well I'm not one to be taken in by the 'Wanted down Under' rose tinted version of things. I understand fully that the daily grind of working,rushing round picking kids up, dropping kids off, bills to pay, essentially, life to be lived, is going to be just as hard as it is here and all without the support that family can (and does) provide. On the other hand, I know the weather is not the be all and end all, but to me, it is more than a bonus. It allows plans to be made without saying 'if the weather is fine on Saturday we'll go to....' it allows us to do all the free outdoor things available on our days off.......and basically live an outdoor lifestyle (if it's not too hot). Also, having 2 small boys, 5+2, who even now in England would spend every waking hour outdoors (even in the rain), I feel the move could be the best thing we could ever do for them. The importance and emphasis placed upon sports and the availability of sunny days to play them would, I'm sure, really benefit my boys and if in future years they wished to take up dual citizenship, it would mean they would not have to go through all this visa malarky to live in Aus, NZ or anywhere in the EU, which in a shrinking world, in future years can only be a good thing. I don't really like the term 'a better life' because I think it gives out the false impression that Australia is a cure all for everything that is perceived as wrong with your life in the UK. I Think what we're looking for is a more 'focused life' if such a thing is possible, time spent as a family doing the available things together on our days together. At the moment for instance, the free trip to the beach means in reality £60 in fuel, four hour round trip to a not very pleasant dilapidated victorian seaside town, not to mention the high possibility of bad weather while we're there. Like I sais, the weather is not the be all and end all, but it does open the door to so many other family orientated things.

We are in exactly the same boat, we toured around NZ in 2007 and fell in love with the place. My wife is also a teacher (secondary English) and although the career is on the SOL, after reading a few recent threads around the teaching profession, I can only say that I'm VERY worried about the whole situation. I'm pretty sure I'd be fine, I'm a firefighter and a plumber before that, but would do any kind of job to make the dream happen. Mrs Skip though, I'm not so sure.....I would hate for to be out of work for months on end, getting more and more disheartened, hopefully though when we sell the house we should have quite alot of equity in it.

Hi, we are also from S. Yorks, Penistone to be exact, between Barnsley and Sheffield. We are only just starting out on our adventure, but it's good to know there are more tykes out there.

Ha ha, would you believe that never even crossed my mind.

Thanks, it does seem like a very friendly place and therefore a place to meet potential friends before arriving.

Thanks for your reply, that's quite reassuring to know. I've just been reading alot recently on here and PIO regarding the lack of teacher positions, but then again, it could well be due to the time of year as I imagine most teachers will be recruited towards the end of the year if your academic school year runs from Jan to Jan

Hi all, I have been lurking around here a while and also on Poms in Oz, trying to gleen all the info I can. Mrs Skip, our 2 boys (5+2) and I are seriously contemplating a move to Perth. We have a few different and unrelated (to each other) friends out there and thought that that would help with what must undoubtedly be a very difficult transition. Mrs Skip is a secondary english teacher (actually very worried about this now, reading some recent posts:shocked:) and I'm a firefighter. We would be coming over with Mrs Skip as the main visa applicant, what with you lot being short of teachers and all that:laugh:. Ideally I would like to join the Fire service over there as I already have the skill set, 14 years experience and also have a friend in the DFES, my second choice would be joining the Police force and this really appeals, If I'm making a complete change, I may as well go the whole hog. However my concern doesn't really lie with me, I'll work at anything or anywhere until an opening comes up in my prefered line of work. What I'm worried about is Mrs Skip (in a shortage career) not being able to find any work anywhere and getting disheartened with the whole thing. She would be the one who would find the move the most upsetting and then not being able to find any work and having to rely on just one wage could just exacerbate things. I know it's really early days yet, but I don't want to go through all the upset, heartache, cost etc. just to find out that it's just going to be worse out there than over here. Don't get me wrong, my rose tinted glasses are definately off, but I don't want to come across as whinging either, not on my first post at least:biggrin:. Any help or reassurance would be definately welcome.